L5R 4th edition School Review Part II: Bushi Schools

[resplendant_sun]

Ok first off a note about most of the schools in general. One of the effects of removing static bonuses from the bushi schools is that they no provide less general competence and more specialized maneauvers or tricks. This effects some schools more strongly than others, take the Toritaka bushi school for example. In 3e they had attack, damage

Comments

[suburbaknght]

One of the design elements of 4e was that they weren't trying to balance the schools in all cases, specifically Great Clan vs. Minor Clan. The attitude was that Great Clans should have superior techniques because they can invest more in developing their schools, they're involved in more conflicts, and they have many more samurai reporting back what techniques work and which ones get you killed. Not everyone likes it, though I do, but I think that's a good thing; there should be fewer Minor Clan players and I see nothing wrong with giving a mechanical disincentive to play one so that only those who are interested in the RP elements will pursue it.

Another design element they tried, which I'd say had about a 75% success rate, was the idea that your character's primary abilities are his or her Skills and that Techniques open up new options. I.e. anyone should be able to be a competent duelist by buying Iaijutsu and investing in the appropriate traits. By this philosophy a Kakita will have some bonuses that would raise him above a bushi who invested an equivalent number of points in dueling, but if that bushi continues to invest he'll outstrip the Kakita eventually. The method of this was giving certain Schools bonuses when they fight in a specific manner (i.e. a Yoritomo should try to lure her opponent onto rocky terrain, then try to knock him onto his backside) or giving them tricks to apply (i.e. the Bayushi's conditioning effects). Sometimes it's worked very well (Toritaka bushi, Mirumoto bushi) and sometimes they over or under worked it (Ichiro bushi underworked, Kakita bushi overworked).

After pre-rolling about thirty NPC combats for Topaz, I will say that at low levels at least, the techniques seem well-balanced with one another.

As for specific schools:

Hiruma Bushi - Part of the timeline neutrality was that this school is supposed to represent general Hiruma techniques - note that they still get scouting/survival at rank 1. I expect we'll see Alternate Path options for the Ancestral Hiruma School and the Hiruma Scout in The Clans next summer.

Kakita Bushi - Still suffers from the Paper Crane problem, especially since, with the front-loading of wounds, initiative no longer dominates the way it used to. Their best tactic is to go Center Stance, spend a VP to boost their Armor TN while they power up (it is much harder to hit people now, especially at low levels), then next round go Full Attack. They get +2k1 for FA, +1k1+1 for their School tech, and spend a VP for +1k1, for a total of +4k3+1. Declare 3 Raises for damage, use the Center Stance bonus to any roll to add to damage, and spend a VP through the katana, for a total of +5k2; a starting character will thus be doing 10k4 damage, more than enough to knock another starting character out of the fight. The only problem is it's a one trick pony; after this you're sitting there with no Void left and opponents getting a +10 to hit you.

Mirumoto Bushi - They get a Stamina boost because their description in fiction has always been tough mountain men with harsh endurance training (swords are heavy; you need to be conditioned to keep them up over a long fight). In the section on weapons it says if you dual-wield you add your Insight Rank to your Armor TN, and in the Schools section it says Mirumoto add their School Rank when dual-wielding katana and wakizashi. It starts at +2 to Armor TN and goes up by +2 per Rank. They don't get the Reflexes bonus because it would make them almost unhittable at Rank 1 and that's the Hida's schtick.